


Can't Help Falling In Love

by secretsofthesky



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Character Death at the end, F/M, Talk of Cancer, married bughead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23724652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretsofthesky/pseuds/secretsofthesky
Summary: They had sworn on it that no matter where they were or what they were doing - if their song started to play, they had to drop everything and dance.
Relationships: Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Can't Help Falling In Love

* * *

_Take my hand, take my whole life too_  
_For I can't help falling in love with you_

* * *

They had made the pact on their wedding day as they swayed together on the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife, that they would try to relive that moment - _that moment of complete love and utter happiness_ \- as often as they could. 

They had sworn on it that no matter where they were or what they were doing - if their song started to play, they had to drop everything and dance. Every time for the rest of their lives. 

Though it was a classic song, it wasn’t one that was played often, so it wasn’t until a few months into their marriage that they’d heard it again while flipping through radio stations. They had been driving to the grocery store, Betty’s hand laying wrapped in Jughead’s on his lap when Elvis’s opening chords started to flow through the speakers. They’d instantly turned to each other and smiled, smiles that turned to laughter as he quickly pulled onto the shoulder to park, blasted the radio, and pulled her from the car to wrap in his arms and dance along the side of the busy highway. Cars honked, a couple of people even yelled things from their window as they passed, but they were too wrapped up in one another to notice. 

The second time was just a few weeks shy of their one year anniversary. They had been in the middle of a restaurant when the soft words started to echo through the room and though the restaurant had no dance floor, they made their own and were cheered on by the other diners as he spun her around the tables.

It continued from there, and eventually, they’d lost count. The middle of a grocery store, another slow dance on the side of the road, a bar on karaoke night, the airport, a commercial on TV. And they stayed true to their word, always coming together to dance to their song. 

It wasn’t always spontaneous though. Betty had turned it on one particular night a few years in when Jughead was stressed from work and at his breaking point. Not much she had said or offered to help with had seemed to calm him any, so she’d put the record on and taken his hand. With her arms around him, she could feel the tension fade from his body, and when their eyes met, his lips formed the first smile she'd seen from him in days. He’d carried her to their bedroom right after and made the moment even more memorable. 

Then the children came, and they traded in their usual music for lullabies and singalongs. Three years went by without a single dance, to their song or otherwise. Parenthood was a miracle, everything they’d hoped it would be, but stressful all the same. They’d barely had time for one another anymore and it was beginning to take its toll. Jughead had put up walls, Betty had let her temper get the better of her one too many times and was beginning to fear their marriage was taking a turn for the worst.

Then one night after dropping the kids off at Polly’s for a sleepover so she could catch up on some errands while Jughead worked late again, she walked in the door and was greeted by a dozen candles lighting the entryway to their home.

As she let the door click shut behind her, the familiar notes that she hadn’t heard in far too long started to play - and then he appeared, walking over to take her hand. They danced in silence, letting the song replay a half dozen times, refusing to leave the others arms before they spoke. And after that, all was okay again. 

The years flew by, the dances continuing, the magic of their song never leaving. Their children grew before their eyes, starting lives of their own and making them grandparents. 

It was for a routine checkup shortly after her fifty-seventh birthday that they found out. She was still young, lively, otherwise healthy, and saw her doctor routinely. Cancer had a way of sneaking up on a person though and when they were read the diagnosis, a diagnosis that told them that she would most likely not make it to fifty-eight, they had just sat there, holding hands as they tried to make sense of it all. She had only seen her husband cry a handful of times in their lives together, and most of those times had been in happiness, but the tears that filled his eyes now, broke her more than the diagnosis had. 

He’d whispered “What are we going to do?” his voice was ragged, full of pain. 

Her response was to grab her phone, turn on their song, and dance with him right there in the doctor's office as they cried together and made new promises to make every moment worth it.

The next four months went by in the blink of an eye, but they’d kept their promise and every moment had been more than worth it. Time spent with the grandkids, family dinners, and spontaneous road trips. It had been four months of love and laughter. 

But they knew the end was drawing near, and after collapsing one sunny morning and being rushed to the hospital, they were told that that morning would most likely be her last. 

“Baby,” Jughead had whispered, his thumb moving over her hand that he held. Their children had left for a moment to let him have his time to say goodbye, though he knew it would kill him to ever utter the words. 

Betty opened her eyes, the smile that spread across her lips barely able to mask the weariness of her face. “Hi, Juggie.” 

The tears threatened to spill, but he held them back. He had to be strong. For her. 

“Do you…” He started as his voice broke. “Do you think you have one more dance left in you?”

Her eyes lit up then as she nodded weakly.

He had held her in his arms, her arms circling his neck gently, her head on his shoulder, lips against his throat as he swayed his body back and forth. 

She had hummed the lyrics to the song, her hand lightly stroking his hair as they danced. 

“Thank you for such a beautiful life, Juggie.” She whispered when the final chords began to play. “I love you.” 

He’d whispered it back before feeling her final breath touch his neck.

_“...for I can’t help falling in love with you.”_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @secretsofthesky


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